Garden Update: New Planters, Succulents, and Cacti!
Do you remember the little planter garden I started at my boyfriend's house? I first shared it here, and then its progress here... Well, things have evolved and I've made quite a few new planters since then! Ivan and I are working on grooming the yard, planting palms, fruit trees, an herb and vegetable garden, and so many other things. Suffice it to say there are a lot of projects going on around here, including a kitchen renovation! Yep yep, hold onto your pants people, I'll share every little bit with you soon. So, while DIY mania ensues, let me wow you with my beloved succulents and cacti, starting with the latest additions to my ever-growing collection...
Catherine
xoxo
I've raved about my Stapelia Grandiflora cactus before and how much I LOVE her gorgeous flowers! Here she is...
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| Stapelia grandiflora |
Here is another opening flower from one of the plants I started from her cuttings:
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| Stapelia grandiflora |
My aunt has a different type of Stapelia cactus, it's called Stapelia gigantea and its flowers are equally lovely. She has shared several cuttings with m,e however the plants I started from them have yet to bloom, so here is a picture of hers in full bloom...
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| Stapelia gigantea a.k.a. Stapelia nobilis or Stapelia marlothii |
Gorgeous huh? Stapelia gigantea - it's gigantic alright! Nature is amazing!
You can imagine how thrilled I was when on a recent trip to Home Depot I spotted this tiny little Stapelia cactus...
Once the flower opened I couldn't help but add the little decorative ceramic owl, the color match is nearly perfect! By the way I first blogged about the ceramic owl planter stakes here.
This species of cacti from the genus Stapelia is called Stapelia scitula, commonly known as the Mini Star Fish Cactus. At least that is what I have concluded after some photo-match research via Google, and the invaluable Dave's Garden! Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, as I know there are a variety of Stapelia cacti out there. Unfortunately, the Home Depots in my area purchase their plants from Costa Farms in Homestead, FL and the succulents and cacti must not come labeled, except for the gallon sized landscape succulents - weird. Anyway, I bought this little beauty for $1.99! She bloomed almost immediately after I potted her, that is when I took this photograph...
Precious little thing, huh? According to Dave's Garden, this little Stapelia does not exceed six inches in height, which makes her a smaller version of other Stapelia cacti. I can't wait for her to fill in and bloom some more!
Also, somewhere throughout my search for the name of this cactus, I read that one should take several cuttings from their Stapelia cactus throughout the year to stimulate new growth - because flowers only sprout on new growth! Wow, great tip, I didn't know that... However, I would say to do this in moderation because I did this for a while (consistently) and my Stapelia grandiflora started to decline in growth and appearance. When I told my grandmother she told me that if you take too many cuttings in a short amount of time the plant will suffer. It did bloom more when I initially began to take cuttings, but at one point or another I must have taken too many too soon and she shriveled a little. She recovered quickly, and has gotten pretty big since I last photographed her, but I will have to keep the cuttings tip in mind as she has not bloomed in a long while and lack of new growth is most likely the cause.
Moving on... Wouldn't you like to see more of the planter that I planted my new Stapelia cactus in? Of course you do, check it out....
I pretty much gasped and ran when I spotted this pale fuchsia pink succulent (during the same Home Depot garden center shopping trip). You see, I had just joyfully swooped up the little Stapelia scitula cactus and some repeat favorites (succulents I already have), so I was pretty happy already... But when I spotted this colorful work of art I really had a crazy moment of marvel, I'd never seen this succulent before and I absolutely needed to have it. That's natural, right? ;)
I mean come on, just look at her! This succulent is called Graptopetalum Pentandrum Superbum (more here). If you think it looks beautiful here, just look at what happened a few weeks after I took the photos above (apart from more sunshine and better/brighter photos)...
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| Graptopetalum Pentandrum Superbum |
You may or may not have noticed the well-formed stock and flower buds in the first images... Well, as luck would have it (for you), I procrastinated on posting those pictures long enough for the flowers to bloom so that I could take new pictures and give you instant gratification. Voila!
It's always refreshing to see a new flower on a new succulent! I love these little flowers, they are stunning...
My camera and I were fascinated...
You're loving that glazed ochre planter with the Moroccan five-pointed star pattern, aren't you? Well, I'll admit that it evoked a giddy squeal from me one day while perusing the aisles of Ross, especially because there were two colors (note the blue pot in bottom right background) and three sizes of each color... yowza! They all came home with me, after all the small one was $2.99, the medium sized one was $5.99 and the large one was $8.99... how could I resist!?
What succulence! ;P
I love the combination of yellow and turquoise, so I paired these babies up!
This fuzzy green succulent is another new addition to my collection. I originally thought it was some type of a Kalanchoe, Panda Paw something, because of the ridges at the tips of the leaves... Well, I was close with the Panda Paw thing, it's actually Bear's Paw, but it is not a Kalanchoe it's a Cotyledon - Cotyledon tomentosa...
Precious as precious can be!
And then there are the Jelly Beans, not exactly a new addition to my collection but I can't help but buy them whenever I see them, which isn't often. They propagate soooo easy, each little jelly bean that snaps off will form a new plant almost 100% of the time, unless it's shriveled and yellow. They are fantastic little succulents, I love how they start out green and then with more sun exposure the tips of the "jelly beans" turn a burgundy color!
And here is a smaller version of that five-pointed star patterned planter in blue...
There are a ton of bricks piling up because we're pulling up an old long-buried brick border from the previous owner. Rather than leave them in a messy pile, we stacked them up off of the back patio to look neat until we could decide what to do with them... After the bricks were stacked I decided that they made a pretty good sunbathing spot, with adequate drainage to boot, for displaying my planters - at least temporarily. Plus, the planters lessen the random-pile-of-bricks-eye-sore, hehe. I played around with the stack and created tiers, like steps. I'll have to take better photos of that once the surrounding area shapes up.
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| Sedeveria Hybrid - Blue Giant #1 |
Creating a little spot for my planters wouldn't be complete without an owl.. or a billion. Hahahaha... Maybe not a billion, but a cheerful bunch scattered about would be nice, I'm workin' on it... :D
(All images in this post are my personal photographs, please do not use or publish them without my written permission - InspireBohemia[at]gmail[dot]com - Thank you!)